Letters: Jesse Jackson, stay home!

The Rev. David Bullock addresses protesters opposed to the appointment of an emergency financial manager in Detroit in front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Monday. Last week, the Rev. Jesse Jackson joined a group of protesters inside City Hall, calling for mass, nonviolent protest.

I find it amusing that JoAnn Watson has teamed up with Jesse Jackson protesting the emergency financial manager. Worse, Jackson inserted the phrase "plantation-ocracy over democracy" in his spin on the situation.

When do race references stop and we can move on? Detroit is a city in peril. Why were those in city government not concerned with the city's health then and now? There were certain signs then, but the can kept getting kicked down the road. Now the can cannot be kicked any farther, and it is time for new blood and ideas.

I believe that Watson is desperate to keep her job along with some of her peers. If they had a plan and made some tough decisions earlier, the city may have avoided the emergency financial manager, but they decided to continue kicking that can. Protesting is not the solution, only the problem.

Greg Bladecki, Clinton Township

Not your business

Jesse Jackson, stay out of our business. It is not your state or city, so go back to where you come from and stop trying to make a racist thing out of the emergency financial manager deal. It is about the survival of Detroit and this state, not about you. Just go away!

Richard Reimer

Hartland

Not what city needs

Mr. Jackson, Mr. Sharpton and all the others: Please stay home. You need to take care of your own families before worrying about Detroit. All you're going to end up doing is provoking people to riot.

The city leaders have proved that they are not capable of balancing budgets and paying off all the debt that has been accumulated by kicking the can down the road. This is not what this city needs right now.

George Kaleniecki

Detroit

Council's responsibility

Why does Jesse Jackson think that the people of Detroit should listen to him? He is an individual who should have been taking care of his own family and his own actions. The City Council has had plenty of time to solve any issues that he is talking about now. How can he not hold the council responsible for the emergency financial manager being appointed, instead of the governor? That remark about Gov. Snyder/Wallace was uncalled for.

Kathleen M. Moore

Commerce Township

Headline seekers

I was not surprised when I saw in the news that Jesse Jackson was on the bandwagon to try to stop the EFM taking over Detroit's financial difficulties. When are folks going to realize that the Rev. Jackson, along with the Rev. Sharpton, are only out to get their faces and names in the news, not to help deter any political issues?

The Rev. Jackson needs to return to Chicago and clean up his own house. All the TV stations and newspapers gave him exactly what he wanted, his name and face in the news.

Jean Amina

Canton

Racism out of place

The Rev. Jesse Jackson remarks that he believes democracy is being compromised with the statement: "As opposed to having a City Council that's democratically elected and a mayor, you'll have a plantocracy, a plantation-ocracy, replacing a democracy."

Really? Last I checked, the governor was an elected official whose responsibility is to look after all of his constituents, and that includes those who were not being looked after from their own elected officials.

Last I checked, Gov. Snyder does not own a plantation or own slaves.

How racist is a comment like that coming from someone who is supposed to be a spiritual leader? Jackson's credibility is nonexistent and his racist overtone is objectionable.

Mark Scicluna

Redford

Let's make sure we understand the current situation. A suburban teenager walks out of class and tragically ends his own life. A Georgia mother walking her baby in a stroller watches in horror as two youths shoot and kill her baby because she had no money for them to steal. Detroit city leaders are incarcerated for racketeering and extortion. There have been massacres of young and old in Connecticut and Colorado. But no worries, the Rev. Jesse Jackson is planning demonstrations and actions in Detroit, protesting the appointment of Kevyn Orr, the man charged with helping Detroit correct the finances mismanaged for the last several years, the only person who appears to have accepted the responsibility of fixing any of the problems within the city (the council and mayor appear to be paralyzed in this respect). The Rev. Jackson, there are many serious items we need help in addressing. How about concentrating on those, instead of interfering with the one thing finally moving in a positive direction! Canton

Where were they earlier?

So the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman John Conyers want demonstrations against the emergency financial manager in Detroit. Where were these leaders over the years as Detroit came to be known as the "murder capital" and government corruption ran unchecked? Ironically, Monica Conyers just got out of prison for being part of the problem.

Detroit is a dysfunctional city, and anything that could improve life for its residents should be welcomed with open arms, not protests.

Bob Zabick

Clinton Township

Tarnished beyond repair

Civil disobedience is what the Rev. Jesse Jackson has called for in Detroit. Does he live, work or vacation in Detroit? Has he any recommendations on how to get the city money? Jobs? Education?

No, he never has any ideas or answers -- only criticism. I think the good reverend, like his good friend John Conyers, should correct the "civil disobedience" in their own families before they recommend it for Detroit. Both of these names are tarnished beyond repair.

James Michael Fox

Shelby Township

Race-baiting rhetoric

Please tell the Rev. Jesse Jackson to take his race-baiting, plantation mentality rhetoric and go back home. Let him go preach to his son about the way a person should live. How many children does the reverend own up to these days?

Tom Tallon

Wyandotte

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Letters: Jesse Jackson, stay home!

I find it amusing that JoAnn Watson has teamed up with Jesse Jackson protesting the emergency financial manager. Worse, Jackson inserted the phrase 'plantation-ocracy over democracy' in his spin on